Finance boss at Harborough travel agent Diamond Shortbreak Holidays misused £713,000 of firm’s money before the company went bust

Compass Point where Diamond Shortbreak Holidays was based

Published:12:58Wednesday 20 February 2019

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A former finance director of a Market Harborough travel agent misappropriated £713,000 from the firm.

The national Insolvency Service looked into the causes of Diamond Shortbreak Holiday’s collapse and discovered that finance director Jamie Tann had misappropriated company funds to use in foreign exchange trades.

Diamond Shortbreak Holidays was founded in 1998, and traded from Compass Point off Northampton Road, Market Harborough, as a travel agent and holiday company.

Jamie Tann, aged 37 and from Wallasey in Merseyside, joined the company in June 2013 as financial director.

Four years later it was discovered that Mr Tann was responsible for a £25,000 payment which had not reached a supplier.

His employment ended before Diamond Shortbreak Holidays entered administration in March 2017. The company went into liquidation in February 2018 causing job losses in both the UK and South Africa. The firm owed creditors more than £10 million.

The Insolvency Service investigation discovered that between March 2015 and January 2017 Mr Tann had misappropriated company funds worth at least £713,000. He said he had used the money to conduct foreign exchange trades and that all of the money was lost.

Further enquiries discovered that Mr Tann caused Diamond Shortbreak Holidays to make payments due to the company’s creditors into third party bank accounts, while also creating false payment requests from the firm’s foreign exchange provider, which he paid either to himself or to a third party.

As a result, Mr Tann signed a disqualification undertaking, meaning that he is banned for 11 years from directly or indirectly becoming involved in the promotion, formation or management of a company.